MS prepping preview of REST support, app server improvements

Microsoft on Wednesday said it plans to significantly increase its support for REST as part of three technologies it will preview later this month that contribute to building a foundation for supporting Web 2.0 and composite applications.

At its annual Professional Developers Conference, which begins October 27, Microsoft will hand out to attendees "community technology previews" (CTP) of Windows Workflow Foundation (WWF) 4.0, Windows Communication Foundation (WCF 4.0) and a set of technologies code-named Dublin that begin to turn Windows application server into a host for composite applications.

REST is a way to build simple interfaces for services and is a lightweight alternative to the Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) used in many Web services today.

The company is not announcing final delivery dates for any of the software, but Microsoft is clearly beginning to align its software and development tools with its ideas around a computing future filled with services.

The announcement comes two days after Microsoft provided a quick peek at Visual Studio 2010 and the .Net Framework 4.0 and said the two would be categorized under five focus areas.

One of those areas was titled "riding the next-generation platform wave" and Wednesday's announcement expanded on that theme.

"We are trying to address the move toward Web services and composite applications," said Burley Kawasaki, director of product management in the connected systems division at Microsoft. He said the applications could be traditional SOA-type or Web 2.0 applications.

One important step for developers is improved support for REST interfaces in WCF 4.0 and a REST Starter Kit.

There is a running debate among developers comparing Microsoft's WS-* stack of Web services protocols, which are mostly based on SOAP, and REST, which is a more lightweight mechanism for lashing together services.

"Microsoft has finally gotten on the REST bandwagon," says Stephen Forte, chief strategy officer for Telerik, which develops user interface components for ASP.Net, Windows Forms and .Net Reporting software. "I would suspect you will see more REST support everywhere in the Framework. This is definitely evidence of that."

Microsoft hopes the Starter Kit makes it easier for developers to use REST with WCF. The Starter Kit also includes support and guidance around caching, security and error handling in REST servers, and early ideas for a REST client, according to Microsoft.

The Starter Kit will be available on CodePlex when released in late October.

WCF 4.0 also includes messaging enhancements around UDP and MQ transport technology, and protocols support for SOAP over UDP, WS-Discovery, and WS-BusinessActivity.

The screen was particularly good. It is bright and visible from most angles, however heat is an issue, particularly around the Windows button on the front, and on the back where the battery housing is located.

My first impression after unboxing the Q702 is that it is a nice looking unit. Styling is somewhat minimalist but very effective. The tablet part, once detached, has a nice weight, and no buttons or switches are located in awkward or intrusive positions.

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